Jack: 5 Months

Our happy Jack...looking quite dapper I might add!

My interpretation of this look: "I'm really trying to look happy, Mom, but you do realize that this bow-tie is NOT comfy, right? "

 

There's my boy.  That's more like it.  He loves to be a part of the action, watching the big kids play.

 He also puts everything in his mouth these days: his hands, my hands, or anything that he can grasp!
Jack loves to MOVE! As of today, he's practically crawling, but not the expert way yet.  Basically he moves all over the place when he's put on his tummy on a blanket to play with his toys.  He lifts up his torso and scoots forward using his forearms and legs to propel himself forward.  I call it baby planks when he lifts his torso to move.  He is pretty strong and pretty determined.  Hmmmm... I have no idea where those traits come from.... He twists and turns from back to front and the reverse SO quickly. 
I'm not supposed to admit that I caught him mid-air, with a baseball-style slide across the womans restroom at church to save him from falling off the counter to the tile floor.  Now that I've admitted, I have to paint the picture.  I walked about 4 steps to the trash his dirty diaper, knowing he can roll, but thinking he'd be okay for 5 seconds.  Boy was I wrong!  This is what the two lucky women got to hear from their stalls.... a quick inhale of breath from me and a quick "oh-my-gosh-oh-my-gosh!" then shiny black pumps sliding across the floor just before I landed with one leg in front of me and one bent underneath my rear. My two arms extended straight in front of me and the baby -phew- landed safely in them.  What a stinkin' miracle, literally!  I had to laugh at myself to keep the tears from falling!  Okay, it was really one of those laugh/cry at the same time moments.   Never again!

 Other things about Jack:  He's eating baby foods now.  This is a huge landmark for me as now I can try to plump him up a bit.  I basically feed him baby food (rice cereal, baby oatmeal, and pureed fruits and veggies) as often as I can between my continued regular nursing every three hours round the clock, except night time.  He usually wakes once or twice still at night with no end in sight.  I tell myself that if he had his own bedroom or if I could tune him out and actually sleep myself, I could ween him off at least the midnight feeding that occasionally still happens.  At any rate, I can't complain...he's practically perfect in every other way! 
I think he may be a bit of a flirt.  He smiles at most people, but especially girls.  Again, should I be surprised of this?
Did I mention he likes to move?  Yes?  Well, let me just say it again:  When he's happy he kick kick KICKS! his feet like crazy!  When he smiles he kicks and does the arms up and down thing too.  When he nurses, he can't even hold still long enough for me to hold his hand.  He has to move it.  Up and down, kick, kick, arm kicks, move, move, move. 
Also, he no longer falls asleep often when we're on the go.  This is tricky.  I love to go on outings with the older two to keep from feeling cooped up inside.  However, this guy does not want to miss one second of the fun, so he will stay asleep and usually be happy and smiling all the while, even though I know he is beyond tired.  There are times when we go out that he doesn't get but one solid, real nap during the day, even though at this age he still should be averaging about 3.
What can I say?  We love this guy.  He is a handful, but we just can't fault him for anything!

Strawberry picking

 I have pictures of me doing the same thing with Ian in the baby carrier three years ago.

 Now he's running around in rows of mud stuffing his face with delicious fresh  berries like the best of 'em.

 Here's Jack smiling during a diaper change in the back of the Volvo wagon, obviously right next to the stroller.  Brooklyn's hands are tickling him.

 This trip to the strawberry fields I reflected on how interesting it is that we do this activity for fun and entertainment, though it is definitely not an economical way to buy strawberries.  Because I consider myself pretty thrifty, I have to repeat to myself, "This is for the EXPERIENCE and for the freshness," throughout the entire 20 minute drive up to the field.  I also have to remind myself how very lucky or BLESSED we are to live in a place that has such a wonderful climate that strawberries go crazy here and they are sort of a "snob" of a fruit, only preferring ideal weather conditions....maybe I have become a strawberry living here too! 
The real point of this editorial however, is that I feel that something is very weird about people like us paying exorbitant amounts of money to pick strawberries ourselves for "fun" while the workers on the other side of the tape do this back-breaking labor for hours, days, and weeks at a time and make, I'm guessing/hoping minimum wage, at MOST.  I watched them working while I nursed Jack in the car and the kids downed as many sweet red treats in the back seats of the car.  I felt kinda bad for them and hoped that they at least had loving families to come home to at night.  I had Brooklyn take a quick picture of them with my camera too.  Thank you strawberry pickers!  I really do appreciate your work! 

 This is our typical Ian...SO cooperative ;) Love ya buddy.